Ranbaxy says sees double-digit growth

Singapore: Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, India’s biggest drug maker by sales, said that it was likely to see sales growth in high double digits for the year and would seek both organic and M&A opportunities to expand its drugs portfolio.

“For the Indian market I can see it continuing to grow at lower double digits and our (Ranbaxy’s) growth will be in higher double digits range,” chief executive Malvinder Singh told Reuters in an interview on Monday, 10 September, on the sidelines of the Forbes CEO conference.

Singh said sales growth was strong at both home and abroad with some 90 patents awaiting approval from the US Food and Drug Administration. Approval of the patents would open a market worth $55 billion worth of sales for Ranbaxy.

“We are looking at a $55 billion market in the US with 90 products in the pipeline over the next few years,” said Singh who aims to make Ranbaxy one of the world’s top five generic drug firms with $5 billion in annual sales by 2012.

In July, Ranbaxy reported that its profit for the April-June quarter had more than doubled, beating forecasts, helped by strong growth in Europe and as the rising rupee cut its costs on foreign loans.

Singh also said Ranbaxy sister firm Fortis Healthcare Ltd, of which he is chairman, plans to have 40 hospitals under management in five years, up from 12 now.

“Our plan is to ramp up to 40 hospitals over the next 5 years and significantly increase the numbers of beds under active management. There is a plan for organic growth, but we are also looking at acquiring hospitals and management contracts for running hospitals.”

Ranbaxy competes with local peers Dr Reddy Labs, the second-largest in sales, and Sun Pharma the top drug-maker in market capitalisation.